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Buying Furniture: Use a Website or Home Furniture Showroom?

When buying furniture, many people are undecided whether to buy from a home furniture showroom or from a website. The feeling is generally that online is easier and also more convenient, but that buying from a showroom or mall store is safer. Are they right or not?
Unfortunately there is no distinct answer to this question, because those marketing using each of the above options claim they are the best and safest. There is little evidence either way regarding the security of your payment details. There have been problems with leaked details online, and with credit card cloning offline, so quite frankly you are best to ignore that aspect.
The vast majority have no problems using either method, and it comes down to which is best for you. Is it more convenient to buy online? Sure it is! Is it best to by online? That is your decision to make, but with furniture one thing is clear – you have a far better choice online, but you get a better view of your furniture in a mall store or home furniture showroom before you pay for it.
So which is best? Neither! You need to think about the benefits and drawbacks of each method of purchasing furniture and try to eliminate the negative aspects of each while combining their strengths or benefits. Let’s have a look at the advantages and disadvantages of each, while keeping in mind that the weakness of one will likely be a strength of the other.Buying Furniture OnlineLarge Choice of Manufacturers: The main advantage of buying furniture online is that you can visit a large number of online furniture store websites in a morning. You can check out Sherrill Furniture for a good selection of upholstered chairs and sofas, Simply Amish for some mission or Shaker furniture for your kitchen, Southwood Furniture for a selection of beautiful reproduction furniture and L. & J.G. Stickley Furniture for beautiful living room and dining room furniture.Made in America: These are just some examples of American furniture manufacturers that offer products that are 100% made in the USA. So another advantage of buying online is that if you are patriotic, you can find the truly American companies where every item is made in America. Try that in your local shopping mall, and you will struggle to find products that are made in the USA by American craftsmen and women using sustainable American wood.Online Room Planners: Several furniture outlets or dealers offer design services or online room planners for your use. In fact, you can often rely on finding a room planner on the website of a manufacturer. After entering the dimensions of your room, you get a scale model of it and you can add similarly scaled thumbnails of your furniture choices to add to it by the click of a button. That way you can see how your furniture choices fit into your rooms.Easy Ordering: Some online furniture stores allow you to order and pay online. We are assuming here that online and offline payment methods are equally secure, which they generally are. However, sometimes it is too easy to order online with a credit card, and you can easily overspendBuying from a Home Furniture ShowroomSee Your Furniture Live: By far the biggest advantage of buying furniture from a mall store or furniture showroom is that you see what you are paying for. It might look great on your computer, but how does it look in the flesh? Is the color truly what you want, and is the wood grained the way you want it?Ease of Operation: These recliners and lift chairs sound marvelous, but how do they actually work? Is that recliner easy to operate with your arthritic hands? Is that lift chair gentle or will it shoot you out into the room on your hands and knees when you want to stand up? It is important that you understand how your choice of motion furniture operates, and that it is suitable for you or your elderly relative.Ask the Right Questions: When buying furniture you will likely have a few questions to ask. How do you do that online? Have you ever tried to get a quick answer online? They do not exist! One of the strengths of buying from a home furniture showroom is that you can ask the questions you want to ask, and you get an instant answer.Conclusions
Our conclusion is that you can use the benefits of each of these methods. You can select your furniture line from the websites of your favorite manufacturers – or even better, select a reputable local dealer and check out all the suppliers it offers. A good dealer will offer products from good American furniture manufacturers such as those mentioned above.
Make your choices online, giving yourself some options or alternatives then visit the home furniture showroom of the dealer concerned. Check out the items you have selected live, and if they seem fine, pay for them. You get the benefit of online selection and offline live viewing and payment security!